Koori no Sakura
by MadamObscurum
Summary: Like a wandering ghost, Sakura Haruno walks the earth with a heart made of ice. Her heart, frozen and dulled through deaths of beloved ones, is set on only one thing: Kill Sasuke Uchiha. However, she first needs to revive the fallen Akatsuki ItaSakuSasu
1. Prologue: Rebirth

**--Oooooh this story plot popped out of my head and I felt that I just had to write it before doing anything else. So this fic is sort of dark? I'm not so sure if this will be cliché or anything like that, but I just want to say that this plot jumped out of my head and was not based on anything. So, if I somehow have the same brainwaves as someone out there, then I did not copy his/her work. :3**

**--Again, I'm just posting prologues/chapter 1's. But I'm not going to continue the story just yet. I'll be finishing Tabula Rasa first**

**--The title does not mean Ice's Sakura, instead, it means Cherry Blossoms of Ice**

**~-===-~**

**Koori no Sakura**

**Prologue**

**~Rebirth~**

A lone figure stood amidst the fallen bodies on the ground. Blood spilled all over, tainting the earth beneath. Rain fell from above like a thousand tears from the gods—indifferent to whatever happened below. A loud clank echoed through the area, piercing through the hard rainfall's splatter. The sky's tears slowly cleansed away the blood on the blade, dulled from the fighting.

And, among the rain, another set of tears joined them. Mingling with the rain, tears fell from the figure's face and dripped onto the earth. Dark clouds continued to pour overhead shadowing everything below them. There was no wind, for the trees stood still and so did time. Nothing moved except for the rain. Everything…stopped.

"Why…?" Gloved hands clenched into fists as the figure fell onto its knees. "WHY?!" The Nimbus clouds above started clearing, but they did not disappear. Instead, they allowed little shreds of sunlight to touch the pale, cold skin of corpses. In that area, there was no breath of life. Just lifeless bodies that lay unmoving on the blood stained ground.

Tears streamed down pale cheeks. Hair that was once a playful color of bubbly pink was splattered with crimson. Once vibrant eyes of green full of life were now dulled and were as lifeless as the scene around her. Sakura, on her knees, dug her nails into the ground. She shoved her face into the chest of the person in front of her hoping for some sort of weak pulse…but there was none.

"Why…did you have to die…you promised...you…promised…Naruto…" Cold and dead, Naruto Uzumaki lay on the ground with a hole through his body. "You fucking Kyuubi! Why didn't you heal Naruto! WHY?!" Sakura slammed a fist on the closest patch of earth next to her. "Naruto…Naruto…come back…please…"

She lifted her head to glance around the area and found herself trembling from anger and sadness because Naruto wasn't the only one who was dead. "Kakashi sensei…" She called out with a broken, raspy voice but no one answered her. Instead, her own voice echoed back at her.

She gave a bone-chilling wail because the reality of everything was too much. All the bodies that surrounded her were all familiar faces. They piled on the floor, broken, tattered, wounded, bleeding…dead. "Yamato taichou…Sai…Ino…Shikamaru…Kiba…Hinata…Shino…" Hands dug into her arms as if the physical pain would ease her emotional pain, "Asuma sensei….Kurenai sensei…Gai sensei…Lee san…Ten ten…Neji san…" Her nails drew blood as they bore deeper and deeper into her skin, "Shizune san…Tsunade sama…"

She hiccupped trying as hard as possible to stop her sobbing but she couldn't. The tears kept coming like a cascading waterfall. There was no stopping any of it. "Otou san…Okaa san…" She said with wet, clouded green eyes as she spied the broken Konoha rocks which once held the hokage faces. Now, it was just a remnant of a fierce battle that destroyed all of Konoha…and its inhabitants.

Standing, Sakura swayed to keep her balance. Her head pounded as a dizzying pain swirled in her head. The fatigue was getting to her and it showed through her skin color. The rain, despite clearing a little, was still hard. The harshness of the rainfall was so harsh it seemed like a wall of water was being created. Merged with her cloudy vision, Sakura felt like she was going blind, for everything was just a blur. She needed to find shelter for the night because at the rate she was going, she'd be joining her comrades in death. But what was the point? Everyone was dead. There was no point in staying alive—there was no point in living.

Spying a small entrance, Sakura made her way inside a cave. But, fallen boulders blocked the entrance. In her frustration and desperate attempt, she gathered the remnants of her chakra and punched through the wall. Tipsy, she entered the cave. Two steps into the cave, her legs gave in and she crashed onto the rocks below. She gave out a pained moan as the small rocks dug into her flesh. And yet, the pain she felt was nothing compared to seeing her friends and family dead.

In that cave, half dead from fatigue, she wondered why she even tried to live. She should've stayed with everyone and died along with them. But why…why was she trying so hard to stay alive? Was it instinct? If it was, she condemned her kunoichi instincts. Already half lidded, her eyes began shutting. She wondered if she were even still alive.

Maybe she was already dead and her thinking was just a remnant of being alive. _Kami…just kill me already…_ She wished hard in her hopeless state, that she would just go and die already. Why did the divine being above have to prolong her fate? It was so obvious that she was dying, so why couldn't they just get it over with and kill her already. After all, everyone was dead.

Her hand twitched towards her shinobi pouch as she tried to grasp for kunai—if they wouldn't end her life, then she would do it herself. But, her weak state didn't allow her to even move and her efforts for suicide-on-a-whim were cast aside. She mentally groaned, too weak to do it aloud. She would die soon and had no reason to fight for her life. If she were to live, she would've lived pointlessly—like a ghost wondering life eternally.

A ghost…remains of lingering spirit forced to stay on earth because it had an unfinished business. Her body didn't let her die, so did it mean that she too was becoming a ghost? Were the gods telling her that she had some sort of unfinished business she had to take care of? Yes…it certainly seemed that way.

She basked in her revelation that her body did not let her die because she had a subconscious notion. A subconscious thought telling her that she had not died because there was still something to do. That's right…through the death of her precious ones she had received a duty—one last unfinished business.

She had to kill Sasuke Uchiha.

**~-===-~**

**--So how was the prologue? Did it invite you to know what this story is about? :3 And why Sasuke Uchiha? Well…wait and see. xD **

**--Feedback is appreciated :3 Was the mood and tone enough? Or did I need to narrate the darkeness of the story more? I think that I lack the ability to provoke emotions in my readers . **

**--Madam Obscurum, "And melt your cold, cold heart…" ("Cold Cold Heart" by Norah Jones) **


	2. Chapter 1: ReDawn of the Dawn

**--Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**--Yay my second fanfic :D Now from an innocent Sakura to a blood thirsty and cryptic one. Let's see which I do better?**

**--Aw, review guys because if I don't get lots of reviews I won't have the will to write T.T**

**--Warning: Gore, Language and Sexual content (Lemons in the future chapters)**

**~-===-~**

**Chapter 1**

**~Re-Dawn of the Dawn~**

Gray filled the entire room. The room was gray, its walls were gray, and even the sky and the rain that poured from it were gray. Everything seemed like something from a scene in a monochrome television, save for the light shade of blue and an amber glow in her eyes. Konan leaned near the window sill, eyes stoic and straight faced. Her Akatsuki cloak was still and did not flutter with the wind like her blue bangs and the flower petals in her hair.

"You're quieter than usual…," A deep, velvet, feminine voice called out from across the room. A figure moved in the shadows: slowly, fluidly and eerily.

"I'm just thinking," Konan replied with a soft voice. She stared straight at the figure, a piece of paper in her hands. She heaved a sigh, "How is it going?"

"Hmph, it is going fine. I just need to do your leader anyway then I can leave the rest to him, isn't that right?" The same feminine voice said through the shadows.

"Yes, he can use his life jutsu…" Bluish gray eyes did not waver. Konan kept her gaze fixed on the figure opposite to her. She did this to prove that she did not fear the woman across her—that Konan was more to fear than the other female.

"You better not be lying about this, Konan." A sneer pierced through the shadows.

"Are you threatening me?" Konan's cold eyes narrowed at the woman opposite to her, "I do believe that I should be the one threatening _you_."

"You're not _all _that, Amegakure's Konan. You're strong, I'll give you that, but not strong enough." The unknown female smirked from her shade and taunted the blue haired woman who refused to argue anymore.

Neither said anything after that. The rain filled the silence. Amegakure was the same as ever: rainy, wet and dreary. Even with their former leader dead, the rain did not cease to fall.

"I'll go check on Pain," the woman in the shadows broke the silence and turned on her heel. Hands reached for the doorknob, but were stopped when Konan spoke.

"You really are different. It makes one wonder what happened to you…Haruno Sakura, apprentice of one of the sannin: Tsunade." It was now her turn to taunt Sakura.

For a moment, the clouds outside parted and a shred of light entered the room. It shooed away the darkness to reveal pink hair and a dark blood-red cloak draped across Sakura's shoulders. Gloved hands tightened to a fist before she grabbed the doorknob, "That's former apprentice of the former sannin. And as to what happened to me, that's none of your business." With that, she turned the knob and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"None of my business she says…" Konan slightly cocked her head to the side, "…and here she is reviving Pain…"

~-===-~

Sakura stormed into one of the spacious rooms of Amegakure, the Akatsuki main building. Furious, she slammed a part of the wall and created a crater into it.

"**Angry, we see?"** A dark chuckle erupted from somewhere. Such a venomous laugh could only come from one person: Zetsu's dark half.

"You've retrieved them all Zetsu?" Sakura demandingly asked from Zetsu. Her poison-like green eyes shot at Zetsu who was taken aback.

"Y-yes…Deidara's was the hardest. We had to find a way to piece him together. Though his partner, Sasori, whom you destroyed, was also hard to—"

"I don't care about _what_ you did about it. I care about _if_ you did it. Now shut up, you're giving me a headache," She pulled back and placed a lock of hair behind her ear. Sakura's pink hair had grown a good length. It reached a part of her back and was still continuing to grow. It wasn't that she forgot to cut it; she had simply grown tired of having short hair. It was something of the spur of the moment—or so she said to herself.

"**Heh, I like her,"** Zetsu's dark half said to his lighter half, "She's meaner than Hidan," his lighter half argued.

"God damnit, would you just shut up?!" Sakura hurled a piece of the ruble from the wall she destroyed onto the plant-like creature. She sighed, the throbbing in her head subsiding, and headed further into the room until she reached an area where markings were written on the floor with something crimson. The markings were in the shape of a circle surrounded by several writings. In the middle of the circle was a bundle wrapped in white cloth.

"**That's leader sama isn't it?"**

"Yeah it is" his white half said after staring at the piece of rock embedded into the wall.

"No it's not" Sakura let her gaze linger at the confused two before bending down towards the marking.

"**What? But we thought—" **When they picked up Pain, however they looked at it, it was their leader.

"No…that's not your leader, that's Pain" Sakura stated bringing her hands to her mouth and biting her thumb to draw blood.

"I don't understand," Zetsu's white half spoke taking a good look at the body, "What's the difference?"

Sakura turned her attention to the plant-like man, "You don't get it, do you? That isn't your leader because I'm your leader now." She looked away and began doing hand seals. "…and you're all just tools…" With her final words, she thrust her hands into the ground which began glowing a light green color.

Zetsu fell silent and found himself staring amusingly at the ninjutsu Sakura was performing. But, perhaps, this was a forbidden jutsu.

Sakura stared with dull green eyes the flashing of the circle, "Just…a…little more…" She said through her wincing. After a long period of concentrating chakra, Sakura let herself stumble. With her remaining energy, she kept herself from falling onto the ground.

"Fuck…!" She cursed feeling her energy drained. Wobbling, she stood and watched as the bundles of fabric began moving. Suddenly, there was a harsh jerk and the fabric was ripped open to reveal Nagato in all his living greatness.

Zetsu grinned and approached their leader, "Pain, nice to have you back" he had his arm extended but Pain was hesitant. He just stared at it with his gray eyes before deciding to stand up on his own. He was dressed in his Akatsuki cloak. Zetsu deduced that Konan clothed him before placing him into the fabric bag.

"Pein—no—Nagato," Sakura called out. She stood, though she had little energy left, looking determined and intimidating. If she was to conquer the Akatsuki, she first had to conquer their leader—former leader now.

"Who are you?" Pain rose up and stared at Sakura in all her determination.

"I'm the one who brought you back."

"Why?"

"You are under me now," Sakura said through her bluntness.

"Hmph, no girl—much less a teen—would be able to lead me," Nagato walked towards her with his intimidating stature. However, because of indifference or her own confidence, Sakura didn't falter. She stood upright and refused to let his intimidation get to her.

"Well, Konan seems to oblige with me being leader…" She smirked, "But if you need proof," Sakura's emerald eyes narrowed to show the dark glint in her eyes, "I wouldn't mind doing giving you hard, concrete evidence,"

Pain snorted and turned away from her, "I have no interest in becoming leader now that I died and failed in my purpose."

"Heh, what, did I scare you?" Sakura had a hand on her hip, "But this is better. I don't need to kick your ass."

Pain glanced at her before speaking, "What's your name?"

Sakura felt her lips turn down at his casual tone, "Haruno…Sakura Haruno…but should just call me leader sama"

Pain averted his gaze towards Zetsu before looking back at Sakura, "So what is your reason for bringing me back from the grave?"

At the thought of why she brought him back, Sakura felt one side of her lip twitch up, "I need you to resurrect the rest of the Akatsuki"

At the mention of Akatsuki, Pain fully turned to her with a curious gaze, "And why would you need the Akatsuki organization?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she began to turn away from him, "That's not important. Do as what you're told, Nagato." She said his name with a stern tone that the normal Sakura was incapable. But, then again, she wasn't normal Sakura.

_That_ Sakura was dead…

~-===-~

"Nagato is back?" Konan asked as Sakura shut the door behind her.

"Yeah…he's working to bring back the other Akatsuki," Sakura didn't bother giving Konan a glance as she walked down the hall.

"Where are you going?"

Sakura didn't stop. Instead, she spoke with a careless tone, "none of your business…."

Forcing her numb legs to move, she staggered her way to her room. Hearing the click of her lock, she made her way to her bed and collapsed on it. She let out a heavy sigh before her hand reached out for her pillow. She grabbed it, shoving it into her face to cover the little light that managed to escape the curtain's shade.

She felt her weakness—her fragility. And remembering her vulnerability triggered a chain of memories that she did not want to remember.

_"Sakura! Get everyone out of here!" Tsunade screamed from outside the halls. _

_Darting outside with a child in hand, Sakura made her way through the sea of panicking citizens. At last, she came upon the bomb shelter specially created for the citizens. The child was the last of the remaining people, for she had gotten everyone out even before Tsunade urged her to do so. _

_"Haruno!" Kiba, riding Akamaru, landed a few distance away from her, "You better get to Naruto, hop on!" His face was serious. But, who wouldn't be especially in a time of crisis?_

_Quickly, Sakura jumped onto Akamaru's back before the ninja dog dashed away, "What's wrong with Naruto?" She asked, her emerald orbs filled with worry. Her best friend—her brother— something had happened to him?_

_"Naruto's fighting him now…" Kiba didn't glance back at Sakura because he could already tell from her silence the expression on her face._

_"Kiba kun, do you think you can bring me there faster?"_

_"Akamaru's injured and he's going as fast as he can already," Kiba said through gritted canines. _

_"…gomen…" Sakura whispered. But, behind her defeated whisper were exasperations of being unable to come to Naruto's aid sooner. _

Sakura felt her fingers squeeze the pillow. She was aggravated and if it weren't for the numbness in her legs, she would've probably kicked her bed hard.

_"Naruto!" Sakura jumped of Akamaru and sped off towards the blonde. All around her, bombs exploded and buildings crumbled. Never in her life had she seen such immense destruction laid out before her. _

_Naruto gave out a groan as he raised a hand to stop Sakura from coming closer. He grasped his chest; his breath was hard. With one final scream, he began transforming into his kyuubi form. _

_Sakura unconsciously placed her fingertips on her mouth to prevent the tears and muffle the scream. But, what came next forcibly tore at her vocal chords._

_Behind her, Kiba and Akamaru let out a moan of pain as they fell to the ground. Akamaru was the first to still. He was already previously injured and the explosion behind them was the fatal blow to the ninja dog. _

_Sakura knew Akamaru was lost to them, but Kiba was still alive. Her medic nin instincts kicked in as she rushed towards Kiba's side. His back had was burnt and he had three holes through his body. At that point, it was a miracle that he was still able to move let alone breathe. _

_"A…ka…maru…" He desperately called out to his dog, but this was a lost cause._

_Tears formed in Sakura's eyes as she let her green healing chakra pass through Kiba, but in the back of her mind even she knew it was useless—Kiba was dying. _

She let out a pained moan as memories flooded into her brain. The screams…the pain…the tears…the death…

_"Kiba!" Hinata, Kiba's teammate rushed into the scene with tears cascading down her paled face. _

_"Hinata…I'm sorry I—" Sakura tried desperately to try and bring Kiba to consciousness, but it was Hinata herself that stopped her._

_"Sakura chan…i-it's okay…h-he w-would've w-wanted to j-join Akamaru…" Hinata was about to give her lost teammate a moment's silence as tears ran down both their cheeks when something made Sakura and she bolt up. _

_"N-Naruto kun!!" Hinata saw her beloved change into the form she hated the most._

_The Kyuubi form Naruto had eight tails waving behind him like snakes waiting to strike. Naruto launched it at his opponent, but the opponent easily dodged it._

_Hinata, brimming with worry and fright, launched herself towards Naruto. It was noble—and stupid. _

_Sakura caught Hinata by the shoulder, "Hinata! What are you doing?!"_

_"B-but N-naruto kun!! He n-needs h-help!" She struggled against Sakura's strength, but they both knew it was a futile attempt. _

_"You can't go in there! You'll die!"_

_"Hinata!" Both girls turned when Shino came into the scene, his bugs trailing behind him. _

_"Shino kun, take Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru," Sakura ordered in her urgency. Handing Hinata to Shino, she dashed off towards Naruto's side. _

The light faded in and out of her room. The light danced on her ceilings creating shapes and figures unknown to the pink haired girl.

_Again, Sakura was making her way towards Naruto when a chain of explosions sounded throughout the entire Konoha. Sakura was stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes grew wide as several bodies flew from different directions. Sakura felt her heart stop when the figures that lay before her stared at her with wide-eyed dead expressions. _

_But what made her blood go cold was not the fact that dead bodies sprawled before her; rather, it was _who_ were the dead bodies before her._

_…Ino Yamanaka stared at Sakura with pale blue eyes, her blond hair now dirtied and her white skin was cracked with scars and burn marks…_

_…Shikamaru Nara, genius of Konoha, had his hair undone. His neck had a large gash and his body bore two holes through it—one through the heart…_

_…Chouji Akimichi's appearance was gruesome. His body looked as if he had only managed to half complete his jutsu with an oversized hand here and a thinned leg there. Plus, his body held much more holes than Shikamaru…_

_…Team Asuma had put up a good fight till the end…_

_"HAHAHAHAHA I KILLED THEM!!" A deformed man with canons strapped to his back jumped into the scene before her._

_Sakura, who was caressing her dead bestfriend's hair, turned up to stare at the deformed figure. With anger seething through her, she curled her fists and prepared for a battle._

Sakura let the pillow slide off her face as she stared at the ceiling and its dancing lights. The lights bounced off the ceiling and reflected into her venomous green eyes that were once filled with the brighter joy in life.

_Sakura held her side. She had fallen and the only supporting her was her working knee. The other had been badly damaged and she had yet to succumb to its numbness. _

_The deformed 'thing' gave out a menacing life before aiming his canons at her, ready to deliver the final blow. _

_She shut her eyes, ready to accept her fate just like Team Asuma. From behind her, she could hear Naruto's growls and the thuds of his tail as he fought fiercely with his opponent._

_His opponent…Naruto's opponent…their opponent…_

…_Sasuke…_

_Sakura winced as she heard the canons go off and the wind around her tense with its force. But, moments passed and the impact—her death—had not come. Careful, she opened on eye and let out a scream when she realized Rock Lee was standing before her, bloodied and dead. His face…Sakura hardly recognized his face afterwards. _

_Following after Lee came Tenten and Neji who suffered the same fate as Lee shortly after arriving._

_What did Sakura do? Why couldn't she move? She was paralyzed by the series of deaths that occurred. But still, did it give her the right to blank her mind?_

Sakura turned over and lay on her front so her back faced the ceiling. Her mind was wandering somewhere between sleep and reality, but hardly stayed anywhere.

_Another set of explosions rang out and a large thunderous wave collapsed the few standing buildings. Then, more explosions rang out as the deformed figure sent out ranged shots at the farther buildings. _

"_Juugo!" Some white haired man with a toothy grin appeared shouldering what appeared to be Zabuza's sword. He was about their age, but Sakura could tell that he was responsible for the waves because he looked like a mist shinobi._

"_Haha look I kill them" the deformed creature, whose name was apparently Juugo, praised himself. _

"_Yeah yeah…Oh I killed some shinobi over there." _

_Sakura, who hid upon the arrival of another figure let out a silent scream when the white haired man brought out a pair of sunglasses, and a bracelet Sakura had given a close friend of hers along with Ino and Tenten._

_It only meant one thing: Shino and Hinata were gone as well. _

_Sakura felt her knees give in as she mourned over the loss of her friends. Her mind spun and she felt her senses becoming lost to her. _

_Her friends were dead. _

"_Sakura!" Sai, Yamato and Kakashi came rushing into the scene. Barely herself, Sakura could only stand and watch as the white haired man, the deformed man and her teammates initiated a fight. _

"Ugh…" Sakura tugged at her long pink hair, "…it hurts…" She muttered referring to the pain in her legs. But, obviously, she meant much more than her lower limbs.

_The battle seemed to drag long. Sakura, finally coming to her senses, healed herself and eventually joined the battle. Now, the only capable shinobi left, Team Kakashi fought to protect Konoha from these unknown people: A white haired man, deformed man and, as she eventually stepped in, a red head with a bad mouth. _

_Well…not all of them were strangers to them…especially their leader. _

_Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned into hours as they waged on. Buildings were torn down, and injuries were inflicted. But, one thing was for sure, one of them would live and other would die. _

_Sakura punched the ground below as Sai launched another set of dragon-lion like things. Yamato let wooden branches erupt from the earth and Kakashi sent out his ninja dogs and a surge of chidori. But, even as skilled as they were, the opponents were formidable._

_The white haired man they later found out was named Suigetsu, as predicted by Sakura, had amazing water skills. The man named juugo had a taste for destruction. The red head, who was apparently named Karin, had the ability to read chakra._

_A jab here, a ninjutsu there, a set of waves crash, electricity binds with water—the battle between these three shinobi and team Kakashi intensified with every move. _

_But, like a string, it had limits. Eventually, the string would surpass its limits and succumb into the force of the pull._

_And that's exactly what happened. _

"_KAKASHI SENSEI!!!" Their teacher, their mentor, had fallen to the ground with a last strike effort from the man named Suigetsu. Sai and Yamato had fallen before Kakashi, though it was hard to believe and now lay dead with the rest of the members. _

_Karin was knocked unconscious sometime within the battle and Suigetsu and Juugo were left—though both were tired._

_Sakura panted with deep breaths, and sweat trickled down her entire body. She was tired, but she wouldn't show it._

_Silently grieving, she charged at Suigetsu and Juugo. Chakra fueled into her fist, she managed to land a punch at Juugo who hit Suigetsu and were sent a good distance away. A smirk managed to crawl up her face, but it quickly disappeared when her thoughts raced back to Naruto. _

_She spun around only to find Naruto And Sasuke charging at each other. It was very much like the scene at the hospital years ago. Only, Sasuke was in his full form, chidori in his arm and black flames encircling the chidori current, Naruto had managed eight tails and had a huge rasengan in his hand, and there was no Kakashi to come between them and save the day._

_They drew closer…_

…_And closer…_

…_And closer_

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Sakura dashed towards the two, but by the time she got there, it was already too late. _

"NARUTO!" Sakura bolted up. She let out quick and hard pants as she attempted to slow her quick beating heart. Hand on her chest, she felt as if her heart was going to jump out of her chest.

"**Had a nightmare…?"** Dark Zetsu suddenly appeared through the wall with a taunting smile on his face.

Sakura felt her brows furrow at the two faced man, "Shut up,"

"Heh, short tempered now, aren't we?" the other half said.

Sakura ignored his taunt and changed the subject, "How are the Akatsuki?"

"Actually, we came to tell you that—"

"**Pain's finished the process"**

Sakura quirked her brow up, "That fast?"

__**"I don't think you know, but you've been asleep for a day now since you **_**stormed**_** into your room…"**

"I was out that long?"

"heh yeah…"

**"We wondered if you were dead so we came to check in,"**

"Gee, I bet you're disappointed aren't you?" Sakura was sarcastic, but Zetsu was indeed getting on her nerves.

"Actually, we're relieved. If you died, there'd be less to watch…"

Again, Sakura did not listen. Instead, she stood up and headed out her door towards the summoning room where she first revived Pain.

~-===-~

Several figures stilled amidst the dimly lit room. Five of them sat on the barren floor while two others stood separately.

"Fucking—and I finally gave up struggling in that dirt hole!" A rough voice yelled, breaking the silence that once filled the room.

"The last thing I remember…was blowing up, hmph, and going into the light, hmph. So why do I wake up and find myself back at the base, yeah?" Another figure who sat spoke.

"That's a very good question," Nagato spoke from his corner. He stood next to Konan whose blue-gray eyes were staring curiously at the five who sat on the ground, "That even I am wondering about…" Nagato 's gray ringed eyes turned to Konan expecting her to answer.

Konan met his gaze, "Zetsu went to get her already…" it was a brusque answer. She left no room for questions save for one:

"Her…?" A voice softly asked in the darkness.

Then, as if on cue, the door banged open. The five figures had to look twice to see if the long pink strands that erupted from the door was all an illusion. But, they were wrong. It was as real as the breath they drew with each inhale.

The vision of pink that stood in the doorframe was a painting of irony. Pink, the color for beginnings, rejoice and beginnings, painted not what it usually meant; instead, it painted anger, sadness, and destruction, for the woman that stood before them had a face which said she was ready to kill.

Sakura stormed into the room. Her long pink cascading locks moved with her movements as she walked to where Nagato was, "It was a success?" Her voice was feminine however one heard it. But, there was something about it that sounded so…un-feminine.

"I think you can see the results for yourself…" Nagato glanced at the five on the floor.

Sakura followed his gaze, and, seeing it was a success, smirked. Her smirk reminded those sprawled against the floor of a cat—no—a lioness. It was so distinct, the way her lip tugged upwards. Her emerald eyes, so much like a ferocious feline's, gazed up and down as if inspecting them. After a few moments, she took a step and began walking towards them.

Her gait was confident; each stride was huge and sure. Most women they knew would walk while being conscious of their outlook and even their resident Akatsuki female walked in a graceful, demure manner. But, she did not.

The five stared up at her as they sized her up. Indeed, she had an intimidating atmosphere. But, since they were the Akatsuki, they felt little if not nothing of her dragoon vibes.

"And who the fuck are you?" A shred of light entered the room and revealed silver hair. He sat half-naked like the rest of them with only fabric to cover their lower body.

Again, that lioness smirk appeared on her face.

And for a split second, the foul-mouthed silver haired man scowled. Long slender fingers stretched towards him. And he, sensing some sort of danger, pulled back. However, a brisk movement that displayed his fear only made her smirk grow. "I see…a bad mouth, silver hair and…" Her black painted fingernails trailed against his chest and caressed his Jashin necklace, "…a Jashin cult necklace…Hidan, right?"

Hidan could only stare at her.

She gave a low chuckle, "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

When Hidan did not speak, she shrugged off his silence and moved to the one sitting beside him. Venomous green eyes met poisonous sea colored green. "Stitches…that's an easy one, Kakuzu the bounty hunter, am I right?"

Like Hidan, Kakuzu did not reply. And feigning ignorance, she moved onto the next.

"Red hair—" She paused and she smiled for the first time, "…I remember you…"

Sasori gave her a bored gaze before his brows furrowed, "And I remember you…" He spoke casually.

"Of course, how could you not? I'm the one that killed you…well…back then weak old me killed you." She laughed. Of course, that was an insult. If she was weak then and was able to kill Sasori, what did it make of him?

"Sasori danna, she's the one who—" But he was stopped when the pinkette stood in front of him with a scowl on her face, "You look like her…" She whispered. Her sea foam green eyes stared at him as if she were staring at someone completely different.

"Who…?"

She didn't answer. She simply stared into his blue eyes, "Deidara if I'm not wrong." She said it differently from the others. It was a quiet voice, remorseful and just…sad.

Sakura had expected the heavy feeling—she hated it—in her chest to go away, but it didn't because she found herself staring into the dark obsidian orbs that she didn't want to see. Her face grew grave…and angry.

"Itachi…_Uchiha_" Her voice was raspy. Anger seethed through her voice like the word 'Uchiha' was some taboo. Her fists clenched before she whirled away towards Pain.

"Very good, Nagato. I suppose they should get dressed before anything else. I'll leave them to you and Konan first…" Sakura didn't make eye contact with anyone. She turned around and left through the door. As she swung the door open, Zetsu stood outside the door.

"**You look pissed off…"** Dark half Zetsu was grinning from ear to ear, but Sakura just scowled at him before taking off.

Sakura darted down the halls and ended up in her room once again. She spied her katana on one side of the hall and she grabbed it. She unsheathed it before releasing the built up anger in her chest. She hacked and slashed at the walls until her she released everything. Free of the heavy build on her chest, she slumped to the floor, her hand sliding down the wall with her. She panted, her other hand tightly wound on the handle of her sword.

In the dark room where the rain poured out from outside, Sakura had summed up her anger, hate and sadness into one word and etched it onto her room's wall:

_**KILL**_

**~-===-~**

**--So angsty****… xD I think? I'm trying to go for a heavy atmosphere in Koori no Sakura. xD Kinda contrasting my Tabula Rasa ideals . So this is slightly an intro to everything. Pairing doesn't come out, and I hope that I can have the ability to write out the things I want to express in this story. xD **

**--Next Chapter: What happens now with the Akatsuki alive? Will they listen to her? ****Why did Sakura revive the Akatsuki? Why couldn't she have just revived her friends? And what happens with a certain Uchiha Itachi is interested our heroine because of the look in her eyes? **

**--Madam Obscurum, "And in the darkness she carved out her heart…"**


	3. Chapter 2: Follow the Leader

**-Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**-Wow I got so much positive response from just the proglogue and the first chapter! I love you all! 333 xD **

**-Because of recent FF changes, the explicit parts have been edited out of this chapter and been moved elsewhere and is covered by this warning: **

_**[Because of the nature of the content within the next few lines, this has been censored. Please refer to the cut out of this chapter.]**_

**To see the part that's been cut out of the chapter please refer to the links displayed in my profile page. It's inconvenient, I know, but it's to avoid being purged out of **

**XxxxX**

**Chapter 2**

**~Follow the Leader~**

The door cracked open and light surged into the dark room. Sakura narrowed her eyes in reflex because the light came too suddenly. "Who's there?" She was irritated. The sudden burst in of light somehow pissed her off for some reason.

"It's me," A white rose made of paper peaked into the doorframe, "They're ready for briefing…" Konan spoke quietly outside.

"Aa," Sakura calmed down. She ran a hand down her long pink locks before standing up. Her Katana gripping tightly in hand, she walked towards her mirror, "I'll be there,"

Konan's eyes watched her move across her room. She took this opportunity to see what was inside Sakura's room. She had a single bed, a desk—it was a normal room, save for the eeriness. Her eyes traveled across to where Sakura came from and noticed the carved writings on the wall.

"Sakura," for some reason, Sakura allowed Konan to call her by her first name while Zetsu wasn't, "What did you do to your wall?"

"Just," She stared her own reflection, "a reminder note, is all."

Konan did not press on. Instead, she cautiously stepped into the room, "Will you be coming?"

"You go ahead," Her voice was calmer, more relaxed than when Konan first peeked into the room, "I think I'll get rid of my Konoha nin clothes. They're getting…old." She couldn't hide the lump in her throat as she paused.

Konan took one long look before shutting the door. Out in the doorway, she stared at the door, "Old? Why do you lie to yourself?" Blue gray eyes turned away as she walked down the hall and into the summoning room.

Sakura stood in front of her mirror. Her long hair cascaded down her shoulders and curved at the edge of her bottom. She examined her attire: her usual maroon vest, dark tights, a skirt over them to add femininity, boot-like shinobi sandals, and her katana in her hands. Somehow, it looked…not right. Something about her outfit just seemed wrong—like it didn't fit. She scowled, dissatisfied with herself. "Hmph…"

Unzipping her maroon vest, she began taking off her clothes until she stood stark naked in front of her mirror. Her skin was white. It was a wonder how it did not pale with her eyes. Her breasts, freed from her kunoichi bra, had grown despite being held down by bindings all the time. They weren't as flat as they used to be. If measured, they were probably somewhere between a B or C cup. Her waist curved into a perfect hourglass shape—shaped and carved by her numerous fighting and training as she had the hint of underlying abs. Her legs were firm and strong; they were just right if she needed to kick something hard—or grip something tight.

In all her nudity, she turned and walked towards her bed and folded her old clothes. Slowly, she caressed each article of clothing as if she were bidding goodbye to them. Taking the stack of clothes, she walked towards her dresser and pulled the lower drawer. She grabbed her folded clothes and pushed them into the deepest creases of her drawer. As she pushed the drawer to a close, she pulled the one on top of it. The upper drawer contained a new set of clothes. Set-by-set, she took them out and laid them on the bed before putting them on one by one.

Moments later, Sakura stood by the mirror staring at her new attire. She wore a maroon Chinese-like dress with a diamond hole where her cleavage was. However, where her cleavage was supposed to be exposed kept its decency by having a very light translucent fabric over it.

She smirked at the suggestiveness of the upper half of her outfit. Her top was cut just where her breasts ended and was continued by a net-like fabric mesh. The mesh was a translucent black that showed enough of her hardened naval. Her sleeves did not begin where sleeves normally began. Instead, they began a little above her elbow and ended at her wrists leaving her upper arm bare. She wore the same leather gloves as the only piece of clothing that came from her old attire. On each arm, where there were no sleeves, she wore armbands that were a metallic black in color.

Her skirt was the same shade of maroon as her top. Its length stopped halfway her thighs where black fishnet stockings took over covering skin. The hemming of her short skirt was trimmed with black lace. And, in the middle of her skirt, the Haruno symbol, the circle, was printed in black. For her footwear, she wore leather boots that hugged her ankles and reached her knees.

Sakura stared at her new image in the mirror. There was something missing—ah, yes, she remembered. She walked towards her dresser and grabbed the ninja headband, an unfortunate reminder as she was the only living shinobi who wore such a headband, which sat on top of it. She tied it up like she usually did, on her head like a headband. With a smirk on, she grabbed her katana, left the room and headed for the summoning room.

**XxxxX**

"Where is she?" Nagato asked as he sat on the couch Zetsu brought in by Nagato's order. The rest stood around him.

"She's getting changed," Konan answered in her little corner.

"She needs to get pretty just to brief us? How unprofessional…" Nagato complained.

Konan scoffed silently. But really, what was taking her so long?

Sakura's timing was impeccable. Just as Konan had wondered, the door swung open and Sakura, dressed in her new outfit, walked into the room with her Katana in her hand. "Pay attention, everyone." She demanded for attention—well she didn't need to ask for it because she had already gotten it when she walked into the room.

She strode across the room and sat on the couch. With her piercing gaze, she shooed away Nagato who stood and stepped aside though bitterly.

A whistle resounded throughout the room, "Oh I wouldn't mind having you for a leader," Hidan ogled her body up and down taking in each curve, dip and bulge of her body, "Fucking fine body…" He had a wide smirk on as he stared at her bosom area.

Sakura shot a glare at the silver aired man before she leaned back, "I'll take your hanging mouths as a compliment and have no offense to them, but at least put your eyes back in your heads and pay attention."

She crossed her legs earning a 'god damn' from Hidan. Ignoring his lustful remarks, She rolled her eyes and flipped her pink mane back then spoke in her lioness-like voice, "Right, so first of all, you should all be aware that I'm leader now." She watched the Akatsuki members' reactions from across the room, "And our goal is to kill Sasuke Uchiha." She twitched as she said his name. The damn name that she wanted so badly to get rid off.

"And why must we kill this, Sasuke Uchiha?" Nagato inquired with gray eyes staring intently into her emerald green ones.

"Hmph, does it matter what my reason is?" She avoided his gaze which confirmed that she was avoiding telling the reason. "Anyway, we're going to gather information first. But, to do that, we need funds which I assign Kakuzu to be in charge of, knowing your past record-"

"Naturally," Kakuzu remarked from his dark corner and cut off Sakura's talking.

Sakura leaned forward further exposing her cleavage through the hole in her top. Her movements and sudden exposure tensed up Hidan. Jashin, he could bang her at that moment. Lust filled his eyes as he gripped his scythe to contain himself. He didn't know how strong she was, but now wasn't the right time to find out.

"Which is why I'm sending Hidan and Kakuzu on a mission to gather some bounties."

Her announcement replaced lust with shock and anger as Hidan exclaimed, "WHAT THE—A fucking mission already?"

"Un," She nodded indifferent to his obvious fuming, "Oh and none of you are to wear your Akatsuki cloaks. You can choose whatever shinobi attire you want save for your Akatsuki cloak. Remember…the Akatsuki is no more."

Hidan scoffed and turned away. One minute, he wanted to fuck the girl and ride her till she screamed, moaned and thrashed beneath him. The next, he wanted to strangle her and hear her cry. Then Hidan got an idea. What if she did all that? Taking the mental image in his head he inwardly shivered. _Oh Jashin_ now he really wanted to get her in his bed. NOW.

"And once we get information on his whereabouts we'll go to him then you can leave the killing to me." Sakura's teeth gnashed together at the thought of killing Sasuke.

Itachi watched Sakura's movements and features: her extremely long pink hair, hard built but lithe body structure, pale skin—she looked like a murderous doll. Her beauty, he would not deny it because she had lots of it, was like that of a porcelain doll and an exotic Amazon goddess mixed together to form Sakura Haruno.

But, what caught his attention, among all things that caught his attention, were her venomous eyes. It seemed to Itachi that everything she looked at would be pierced by her gaze, yet that was not the real reason he was sucked into her eyes. Her deadly green pair swam with so much anger…and sadness. He, in his entire life (including his current one), had only seen a pair most identical to Sakura's—and it was Sasuke's. Both their eyes were filled with murderous intent and a darkness that lingered, swirled and flowed in their irises. Their eyes contained Revenge.

"Can't you do this on your own?" Sasori asked. It was true, though. Gathering information only needed money if it were on a large scale, but getting information on one person, who apparently destroyed an entire village, was easy enough and often came cheap.

Sakura kept silent. It seems as if Sasori's question hit a place that she didn't expect to be hit.

"Ah," Deidara spoke with a smug smirk on his face, "I get it, un. You say your threats and all that, hmph. But, in truth, they're all bark and no bite, hmph."

Sakura rose from her seat and glared at Deidara, "It's not like that!" Her hair, in her fury, seemed to rise as if fire was spreading through it, "The only reason I need you all is because of Madara Uchiha!" Her eyes widened in realization. She had spilled. Taking a step back, she sunk down onto the couch and mentally beat herself.

"Madara Uchiha?" Nagato had his brows furrowed and so were Konan's except her eyes were filled with worry. "He's with Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Uchiha?" Kakuzu asked, "He's related to Itachi?" Green eyes turned to Itachi whose eyes looked to be steady but were actually on the verge of widening.

Itachi, upon hearing that scoundrel's name, felt his innards churn and shake with a seething anger he had long forgotten. His fists clenched within his Akatsuki cloak and his lip silently trembled with a suppressed heat in his chest.

"So we're dealing with Uchihas, yeah?" Deidara had a wide smirk on. He never liked the high and mighty Uchihas. One reason was because the elder Uchiha who stood a few meters from him had defeated Deidara and brought him to the Akatsuki. The other reason was the fact that the younger Uchiha had killed Deidara in combat, "What's with your clan, yeah?"

Sakura slapped her huge forehead. _Oh kami _She let her anger get to her and spilled words she didn't need to say. A little disappointed with herself, she sighed and stood up. Evne if it were simply a small amount of information, it was still unneeded to be said information. For a little while, she had let guard down and weakened her defenses, but it taught her to be wary at _all _times especially around the Akatsuki. "Alright alright, yes Madara Uchiha ancestor of the Uchiha clan is alive. Yes, Sasuke is with him now can we fucking get back to topic?" A vein her head throbbed and their asking questions weren't helping.

The Akatsuki hushed down with Sakura's boiling anger evident from her cursing.

"So," She was beyond annoyed and just wanted to get this over with, "Information first. Use all your available resources to get information." With narrowed eyes at an empty space, she turned on her heel and walked out of the door.

**XxxxX**

Sakura stood gazing out the Akatsuki base window. Her once dangerous green eyes were softened into molded jade. Alone, she breathed a sigh.

_"NARUTO!" Sakura caught Naruto as he fell onto the ground. The sky rumbled with a foreboding rainfall that went unnoticed by the pink haired kunoichi. His red chakra shriveled and seethed away as red liquid took place of red chakra. _

_ Sakura trembled as she glanced down at the blood pooling on the ground. Her green eyes, wide with horror, watched his blue eyes tremble. "Sa…kura…Chan…" He muttered, his lips trying his best to smile, "I'm…" He coughed blood, "Sorry…I couldn't…keep…my promise…"_

_ Sakura felt tears pour from her eyes. She shook her head as she held his hand in hers, "No, Naruto kun, you can still keep it. There's always next time, ne?" _

_ Naruto managed to give his sheepish smile despite the numbness in his body, "Aa…maybe…"_

_ "No, not maybe! Naruto, stay with me..." She felt her lip quiver as Naruto's body began limping. She let out green chakra from her hands and pressed it close to Naruto. Her tears cascaded down her face._

_ "Sa…kura chan…It's…cold…" _

_ "NO NARUTO! C'mon Naruto! Stay with me! We'll eat ramen together! I'll—I'll go on a date with you, just please stay with me Naruto!"_

_ "Mm…Ramen…Don't worry Sakura chan…I just feel tired…I just need to…rest…" His eyes began lidding shut, "just…for a little…while…"_

_ "Naruto! Naruto! NARUTO! NARUTO! NO!" _

Sakura slammed the windowpane, forming small cracks on the surface.

"Back from your thoughts?"

Startled, Sakura whipped around to find Itachi staring at her with those charcoal gray eyes of his. His gaze enraptured her. They were like endless space—unfathomable oblivion—and it sucked Sakura into them. Closer and closer, his eyes drew near her. It was only when she took a subconscious step back did she realize that Itachi was walking towards her. His gait was graceful, slender, and calm. He, in all aspects, was like a gentleman. It was hard to believe that someone so...elegant…could be an S-class criminal or a murderer.

But no matter how breathtaking he was, she had to keep her cold demeanor on at all times. "What do you want, Itachi?"

"Why do you want to kill Sasuke so badly?" He was blunt. Despite his cordial appearance, his mouth needed softening.

"Why does it matter to you?" Sakura was sick and tired of this man. The more she looked at him, the sicker she felt. She hated him, his rigid skin, his well-built body, his silky raven hair and his eyes—especially his onyx eyes that was so similar to the one she hated the most.

"He is my otouotou,"

Sakura scoffed, "You call him your brother when you also want to kill him?"

Itachi didn't say anything. He kept his onyx eyes set on her, unmoving…and unnerving.

"Hmph, well whatever."

"You still haven't answered me,"

Sakura, her temper steadily increasing, lifted a fist at him, "Fucking ask one more time, and I'll kill you."

In a split second, Sakura found herself in a predicament. She could feel the glass press against her bare shoulder, but she paid no attention to the cold glass. Her attention was fixed on Itachi who had pinned her arms with his against the windowpane, his breath tickling her ear, "You can't kill me…" Itachi whispered huskily into her ear, "besides, I'm already dead to everyone." Itachi pulled away so his now scarlet eyes could stare into her jaded ones.

Sakura felt her breath hitch the moment she felt his warm breath on her ear and neck. Chills ran down her back as Itachi's grip on her wrists tightened. She struggled, unable to use her brute strength to push away Itachi. Why? Why was he so damn captivating? A single look from him sucked all the strength from her.

He smirked, "What's wrong? Where's your inhuman strength now?" His tomoe began swirling, "You may be known as the strongest kunoichi, but that was before the Akatsuki were brought back to life. You should be wary of your own strength now that we're back," He warned her.

"Your Sharingan doesn't scare me," Sakura taunted keeping her eyes fixed on his, "You've lost your Mangekyou abilities. You can only copy and re-use techniques now." She held her ground, making sure to hide all signs of fear, weakness, or wincing—if any.

Itachi pulled back a little, "So you're aware?" He scoffed.

"I'm not stupid. I gathered information about the mangekyou."

"How perceptive of you…" He let her go, propping her up so she could stand straight. But, he and she kept their eyes fixed on one another.

"But even if I knew that, I still brought you back to life. Do you know why?"

He smirked, "You want more information?" Oh she was cunning. She had turned the tables around so quickly and smoothly that he hadn't noticed she already had the upper hand of the situation.

Sakura smirked backed at him, side-stepping slowly to give herself some space, "Yes. And you will give it to me." She demanded.

Itachi grunted and turned on his heel to walk down the hall. He was impassive. Did it matter if he told her about its secrets? Did it matter if she killed his brother? Did anything Itachi Uchiha do matter? He was dead in the eyes of everyone.

"After all," Sakura continued watching his retreating figure, "We both want the same thing, and that's Sasuke Uchiha dead."

Itachi stopped in his tracks. A long pause filled the hollowed halls that contained only him and Sakura, "We both want the same thing…But it's not Sasuke dead." With that, he continued walking and disappeared as he turned down the hall.

Sakura stood there dumbfounded. What did he mean they wanted the same thing but it wasn't Sasuke dead? How could Sakura not want Sasuke dead? He was the reason this all began. If he hadn't left for Orochimaru years ago, they'd be slurping down Ramen at Ichiraku's as team 7! Sasuke destroyed all happiness in everything Sakura had, did and wanted. He had taken everything from her…everything.

_**[Because of the nature of the content within the next few lines, this has been censored. Please refer to the cut out of this chapter.]**_

Sakura sighed, feeling her neck. She still remembered the way Sasuke bit at her neck and the way he grabbed her hair. She remembered him being inside of her, wiggling and dangerously growing.

She remembered the pleasure.

She remembered the pain.

She remembered the hate.

She remembered…everything.

**XxxxxX**

**To see the part that's been cut out of the chapter please refer to the links displayed in my profile page. It's inconvenient, I know, but it's to avoid being purged out of **

**-So yeah my first lemon? XD And it was rape how sadistic xD**

**-Er I'm not very good with lemons, it's my first after all so if I left out details or the scene was confusing you know why. =D **

**-"I don't care if you hate me so long as my existence is a big part of you." (quote inspired by Shotarou of Skip Beat) –Madam Obscurum**


	4. Chapter 3: All These Years

**Chapter 3**

**~All These Years~**

Long pink locks lay sprawled on the armrest of the loveseat, very much like silken strings cascading down to embody a rose waterfall. Long legs covered in fishnet stockings stretched out, beating the length of the couch by a few inches as the balls of her feet hooked against the aged metal of the armrest.

A slender arm rested on one of the heads of the loveseat while the other rested on the flat mesh that covered her well-toned abdomen. Big luscious breasts covered in maroon fabric heaved up and down with each soft breath drawn and breathed out through soft, slightly parted, pink lips. Emerald green eyes stared absentmindedly into the ceiling as lashes fluttered open and close with each blink.

Once in awhile, small thoughts would enter and then quickly exit, but her mind was particularly blank. And even as a loud thud erupted in the room, she neither stirred nor jerked to see who had come in. Quite frankly, it was easy to tell who had come in. Only one person could come in with such an ill bred manner and couple it with a horrendous string of curses containing the word 'fuck'. And, it was expected that wherever the profane man was, his partner would be dawdling behind.

"Fuck it! We're finally back!" Hidan stretched his arms out, one hand holding his scythe. Clad in a loose black shirt and dark pants, Hidan entered, Kakuzu not far behind, the meeting room and garnered the attention of the rest of the 'Akatsuki' members save for their 'leader' who was lounging on the maroon loveseat. It had been a week since they were sent on a mission: to scour and find any significant information on Sasuke Uchiha.

Unenthusiastically, they had accepted the mission and had gone outside Amegakure to search for valuable information. Kakuzu had even found two good bounties. Unfortunately, though Kakuzu had expected the bounty to be easy, it didn't go as they planned; hence, they had spent a week for a mission that supposedly would've taken two days. It had caught Kakuzu off guard the moment he and Hidan set off for the mission. The Shinobi world wasn't what he remembered it to be.

He had expected it to have changed a little. 'Perhaps there were new roads' or more 'stands along the way', but what Hidan and he saw was nothing short of Apocalyptic. The routes he had known no longer existed. Markers for directions were gone. And nothing, absolutely _nothing_ was familiar. Thus, even he, Kakuzu, who had lived for more than 90 years found himself gaping at the world before him. Often he'd pinch himself—even beat Hidan up—wondering if he wasn't in hell.

"God damnit, are you listening Sakura?" Hidan yelled out as he stood before the pink haired girl who had paid no attention to any of his squabbles. The moment he had arrived, Hidan had cursed and rushed to the pink haired girl to complain about the mission. Unfortunately, the pink haired girl had neither glanced nor gestured towards him—that is, until the point where he had called the lioness by her first name.

A menacing glare suddenly shot its way towards Hidan. Green eyes seemed to burn with a sudden rage as Sakura abruptly jerked upwards, "What…did you call me?" Lines embodied itself on her forehead as a scowl surfaced on her face. If anything, the pink haired leader hated to be called, especially by her _subordinates_, by her first name.

Hidan found himself reeling, but nonetheless sought some sham courage, "I asked if you were listening, .ra." he smirked, feeling as if he had done some sort of accomplishment. Regrettably, only he was thinking that. And soon, he realized that as he found himself pinned against the wall that _had_ _been_ a good 10 feet away. _'__fuckin_ _kinky__' _ he thought to himself as he looked down upon a raging Sakura.

As Hidan kept his smirk on, Sakura could feel the desperate _need_ to kill the man before him. Her claws kept a firm grip on the bastard's neck hoping against hope that she could crush his voicebox by accident so he would shut up for the latter part of his dreary new life. Truthfully, it was a plausible thought. Being a medic nin in her previous life, she called it that, there were many tortures she use on him.

But, then again, the man before her was a masochist. He'd enjoy that more than she would enjoy tearing him limb from limb. So, with a sudden disgust for the pain-loving weirdo, she tossed him towards the center of the meeting room and gave him a non-chakra infused Herculean punch—which would've hurt nonetheless.

Feeling calmer—slightly—she walked off and hopped on the couch once again. Hands perched on the heads of the couch, she let out a deep, scorn filled sigh and turned her attention from the laughing maniac on the floor to his irritated partner. She guessed he too wanted Hidan dead. "Kakuzu," A slight irritation reverberated in her voice, "What did you find?"

Kakuzu tore his antagonized gaze and shifted it towards his current 'leader', "Before I tell you what we found, leader _sama,_" He stretched the honorific because there was no way he'd want to get hit like Hidan did, "Why don't you tell us some details you left out before we went on a mission."

A wide Cheshire smile spread on Sakura's face, "I take it you've seen the outside world?" She ignored his demanding tone, and simply took to being amused by what he had seen. She folded her arms across her diaphragm, just below her breasts.

Kakuzu didn't reply. Instead, he felt heads turn towards him and then towards Sakura then back towards him. "…yes" he finally said. The others, the rest of the Akatsuki, had been silent. Neither one really found any need to speak up as they watched Hidan be shoved, thrown, and punched—all in the matter of a few seconds. They just didn't care. Now, however, things were getting interesting. Not that seeing Hidan being brutally beat up was boring. This was just more relevant.

"Why? What's wrong with the world, hm?" Deidara interjected from between Sasori and Konan. For every day since Kakuzu and Hidan had been sent on their mission, everyone of the 'Akatsuki' had been in the meeting room just lazing around. Sasori, the impatient one, had constantly asked Sakura, with a bored tone, if they were going to do anything to which their leader would reply with a curt 'wait for the two'. From the Amegakure window, there was nothing to see but rotting metal buildings and rainfall—lots of pouring rain. Neither of them knew of the world outside, until Hidan and Kakuzu came back.

"Well it's," Kakuzu paused to look at Sakura, "different"

All eyes turned towards Sakura obviously wondering what the hell Kakuzu meant. Sakura, on the other hand, responded by leaning her head on a hand which was propped up on her knee. "Different? Is that what you call it?" She scoffed, letting her gaze travel from one curious face to another. With an exasperated sigh, she straightened herself and placed one knee over the other, leaning back against the couch, "Alright, I'll tell you. And maybe I'll tell you a bit about yours truly to entertain you"

Six pairs of eyes waited patiently for the pinkette to start her story. In truth, a part of them didn't want to know what had happened. But, another part, direly wanted to know what had happened since their absence in…life.

"So it's like this," She began saying, "It's been about three years since Pain-slash-Nagato, the last one to die, died." Seeing no violent reaction erupt, she continued.

"Konoha thought it meant peace was finally going to come, and, since the Akatsuki were supposedly gone, there would be less to worry about. Also, for us, who had personal goals," Sakura shut her eyes for a brief moment remembering the 'promise of a lifetime' that Naruto had done for the sake of team 7. She felt her cold heart, for a brief moment, melt with grief for the late Kyuubi container. But, she quickly remembered where she was and _who_ she was. "And, with no threat other than Sasuke Uchiha, we thought we could focus on those personal goals."

"And what is this personal goal?" Itachi suddenly interrupted from his previously silently corner to which Sakura wished he had stayed in.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the elder Uchiha, "that doesn't matter,"

"You said you'd entertain us, _leader_ _sama_" He was openly provoking her and they both knew that. Sakura was about to blow her top off; however, that was what Itachi wanted, she thought. She wouldn't let him have what he wanted—no way was she going to get angry and show that he had hit a nerve.

Feigning ignorance, Sakura answered him, "It was to, as stupid as this sounds, save Sasuke Uchiha."

Hidan let out a boisterous laugh, "SAVE?" He snorted reeling back and forth from the laughter, "Damn, I knew you Konoha punks were optimistic and shit, but _this_ is hilarious!"

Sakura coughed, giving Hidan a glare that said: 'want me to punch you again?'. The glare quieted the Jashin believer albeit the gagged chuckles he let out once in a while, "Yes, _hilarious_," Sakura said sarcastically, "don't forget this was three years ago, assholes!" She snarled at them, making sure none of them would try insulting her again, "now let me finish."

After a momentary silence of rubbing her temples, she sighed then gazed into a faraway place before beginning her tale:

"You haven't seen the outside world because of the wall of rainfall. But, you should be grateful because the world outside isn't worth seeing. If possible, it's better to not see it all together.

It's been three years since the world took a turn for the worst. All of you, save for Konan, Zetsu and Hoshikage Kisame, had died and left Akatsuki without members. Tobi, the masked man, was truthfully Madara Uchiha—"

"What? You've got to be kidding me, hm!" Deidara, who had died before knowing the truth, had burst out with widened eyes. "That idiot was—"

"Yes, he was," Sakura scoffed, "Continuing. Team Hebi or Sasuke Uchiha's team composed of Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo, took your vacant spots and became Akatsuki. By that time, they had only needed the Hachibi and the Kyuubi. Sasuke had failed to capture the Hachibi once then disappeared. The next we heard of him, he and his team Hebi had stormed the meeting of the Kages from the Shinobi villages. In that meeting, all the shinobi nations had teamed up against Madara's plot called the Moon Eye plot. Madara had planned to harness then use all tailed beasts to control the world and gain 'world peace'."

She paused, noticing the quick change of expression on Nagato and Itachi's faces. Obviously, they knew something about it, "There was a time when Sasuke and our team," a pregnant silence infiltrated the air. The mention of Sasuke and their old team seemed to drive a nostalgic stake through the cold leader's heart, "had met once again," She continued after taking a deep breath. "There, Sasuke had revealed that he had wanted to destroy Konoha. Later, we learned that Danzo had been killed by Sasuke."

Nagato, startled, drew breath and a sudden change in air shrouded him.

"For a time, things began becoming peaceful again. But, of course, that's only the calm before the storm. If anything, we were at the eye and the worst was yet to come. Naruto spent that period in the 'eye' to train and control the Kyuubi. Unfortunately," Sakura swallowed a vexing lump that had formed in the middle of her throat, "The storm came too quickly. We suddenly got delayed news that the Hachibi had been captured by Sasuke. And, before we could prepare for Sasuke, he came."

Sakura hung her head, not paying any attention to the flutter of locks that had fallen against her face, "Sasuke came and destroyed Konoha," Blunt, sharp, and unfeeling, Sakura spoke setting aside any emotion that should have been there but was not.

"The next day, the news roared throughout the shinobi nations and the world: Konoha had been razed to the ground overnight. The news sent the shinobi nations cringing in fear. Single handedly, Sasuke Uchiha had destroyed a shinobi nation, and it was not _just_ a shinobi nation. It was one of the most powerful shinobi nations, Konohagakure. That was the turning point of fate of the world. Madara had his hands on all tailed beasts. Then, like a domino, one by one, the great nations fell.

However, hope wasn't completely gone. The survivors from each of the great nations banned together in one great final stand against Madara and Sasuke. Millions of armed shinobi from across the globe gathered before the power of the tailed beasts,"

"What happened, hm?" Deidara, at the edge of his seat, leaned in to take in every word. Sakura couldn't help but sneer at the blonde.

"What happened, well," Sakura folded her arms across her chest, "They died."

Deidara drew back, startled at the outcome of the battle.

"With the use of the power of the tailed beasts, Madara was able to eradicate millions of shinobi in a split second. Millions of shinobi. Dead. In a split second. BAM!" Sakura yelled, "End of the world."

Sakura lifted her gaze to look at the dumbfounded expressions on each of their faces. She smirked, feeling a sense of fulfillment. She had given those cold blooded killers such a look? Pathetic, they all were. "Well that's the story,"

"Oi," Deidara stuttered, "You can't just say 'that's the story' hm!"

"Yeah!" Hidan, though as much as he liked the idea of a massacre, felt like he had been rubbed the wrong way, "The world was fucking destroyed! How the hell can you fucking smile like that?"

"It's the same way you smile when you shove your stick in some guy's ass," She chuckled evilly, much to Hidan's annoyance. "Bottom line," Her face drew grave, "the world is dying. Hell, if it isn't dead already then it's dying."

"But there're still people." Kakuzu suddenly cut in, "we saw them. There were sporadic villages across the world"

"Remnants of what was once there," Sakura waved his words off, "There are only three big nations left. Two of which are under the control of Madara. One is the Sound Village, hosted by Kabuto—"

"He's alive?" Sasori raised a skeptical brow.

"Yes he's alive. Damn bastard's like a cockroach." Sakura rubbed the back of her head, "he's a thorn in my side. And the other village is the village hidden in the mist, which is under the control of Hoshikage Kisame,"

"Wow, shark boy managed to stay alive!" Hidan coaxed.

" Yeah. We thought he was dead til he jumped out of Samehada and sliced the Hachibi. You should be happy, Itachi, more gay fun for you" She leered at the raven haired man who grunted her insult off.

"So what's the other village, yeah? The one _not_ under control?"

"Why, Deidara, you should have guessed. Amegakure." She smirked, "Controlled by yours truly." A chuckle erupted from pink glossy lips. She brought her knees up, drawing them close to her large chest. "So, kiddies, any questions?" Long pink hair brushed against her exposed thighs.

"I have one," Sasori had raised his hand, a feat Sakura couldn't help but laugh at.

"What is it?" Sakura said, catching her breath.

"The existence of Amegakure is so big. Why hasn't Madara attacked it?"

"Ah, that's why you're the smart one," Sakura lay her head down on the couch, "Why? Honestly? I don't know?" She let out a boisterous laugh as her hands folded themselves behind her head.

"Seriously? A threat this big and he doesn't do anything about it?" Kakuzu, arms crossed across his chest, had his brows furrowed.

Sakura shrugged, "Well, it just gives me more time to prepare, ne?"

"But," Sasori said, "isn't the scenario weird?"

"Yes," Sakura glanced at Konan, "Konan and I had already thought of the possible reasons as to why, but none of them are hardly plausible—simply hypothetical."

"That's why we took measures." Konan spoke from her desolate corner beside Nagato. Creamy white hands placed themselves on Nagato's shoulder. Neither seemed to think highly of this as not one reacted in any way.

"Measures, hm? What measures, hm?" Deidara turned his head towards Konan who didn't return the gesture. Instead, she had her gaze directed towards Sakura with an expression that seemed to be cautious—as if she were saying 'is it alright to tell them?'

Sakura gave an indifferent look at Konan, and, after a drawn-out period of silence, gave a curt nod. Sakura stretched and yawned, much like a cat does.

"There's an impenetrable shield that surrounds the village."

"A shield?" Nagato turned towards Konan, "Why haven't any of us sensed it?"

A huge smirk tugged at the ends of Sakura's lips. She had another one of her Cheshire cat smiles on her face. "Don't you see it?" She got up on her knees and twisted her body to face the window, "Shame on you, Nagato. The shield, it's the rain pouring down outside."

"The jutsu _I_ put up to detect intruders?"

"Modified to my liking," She was staring at the rain outside, the magnificence of something she had done entertaining her greatly.

"But, that jutsu needs an immense amount of chakra, so how?" Nagato was in disbelief. She seemed powerful enough, but the amount of chakra he sensed in her was not enough to sustain something as humongous as the rain in Amegakure.

Sakura had turned to him with a gleam in her eyes. That blasted smile was on her face again, the smile that seemed to beckon trouble. "Want to see?" She practically jumped out of the couch as she opted to stand, "Follow me boys." She strode towards the door, gesturing for them to get off their asses and follow, which they did eventually.

**XxxxxxxX**

The place looked, to say the least, as plain as could be. White walls, framed windows, plain doors it was a plain Jane main base—nothing out of the ordinary, so it occurred to them, as Sakura began opening these plain doors, that they had lost their touch to see beyond their senses. How could they have known that the door at the far end of the hall was an 'elevator', as Sakura called it, shaft? When did that happen?

Sasori scrutinized the machinery on the floor they had reached, making a mental note to examine how they worked. What were these innovations? They were a far cry from the inventions 2, or was it 3, years ago. His clockwork puppets seemed to pale in comparison.

"Where are we?" He had that bored tone, gray eyes seemingly dull despite the interest and slight excitement he had deep down. Sakura simply glanced at Sasori with that sparkle in her eyes as if to say, 'you'll see'.

They were in a wide room, gears, fixed on the walls, continuously turning. Conveyor belts planted on the walls were shipping boxes in and out of the room to places unknown to all of them save for Sakura.

Other than that, the room was empty except for a desk on one side of the room. It was occupied by a sole shinobi who had risen from his chair to bow towards Sakura as she traversed to the door at the other end of the room with only a curt nod to tell the soldier to be at ease.

With one deft motion, she had practically ripped the door open to reveal a room just as spacious except this one held more than one person in it. In a circle, several shinobi sat with their legs crossed. Their eyes and ears were covered by several contraptions with wires that led to a big object in the center of the room. It was attached to the ceiling above.

"What is that thing, hm?"

"Gentlemen," She called the attention of the shinobi in the room, particularly the ones who weren't strapped to the machine. "The Akatsuki," She gestured to the group of men behind her, noting the surprised look on their faces.

"You did it, leader sama?" The one at the far end of the room had gotten up—practically tossing his own chair aside—to take a good look at the men behind her. The man seemed to recognize the one with gleaming red hair as he took baby steps forward. "Pain sama!"

Sakura smirked, nodding for Nagato to take a step forward. Hearing his name, Pain had turned his gaze towards the man who was grinning in relief. "This, boys, is the Security room. These men here channel their chakra to the machine at a sustainable yet safe rate. Those men,"

She turned to those who were free from the machine and sat before box-like machines in the corner, "monitor the chakra signatures of those men," She now gestured to the men in the circle, "and the entire village."

She had turned to the Akatsuki, awaiting for any questions and to note their entertainingly confused faces. It was amusing to see such formerly powerful men stoop so low. Call her an extreme feminist, but she enjoyed downplaying men, especially those who regarded themselves as one of the best of the best—all ego, really.

"They monitor the entire village…?"

"Mhm," She walked over to the monitors on the side of the room and turned one of them towards the Akatsuki who stared wide-eyed at what they were seeing. In that box-like machine were images of some parts of the village.

Pain recognized the main roads, the side streets, and some familiar buildings. However, what surprised them was that these pictures were not simple pictures. People, citizens, were projected _moving_ through the streets.

"What the fuck?" Hidan had exclaimed, drawing back from the screen to gape at Sakura. What was this thing?

"This is all in real-time. Meaning, what you see here is what is happening on the outside." She had a triumphant grin on her face, a hand casually hooked on her right hip as she stood prideful. "One of my and other genius's innovations for the village." She nodded to the one at her right. Apparently, he was the co-creator of the technology.

"The chakra infused from those men to the contraption on the roof here is channeled to a machine up there," She pointed to the sky, "And comes out in the form of rain. This rain projects anything it touches onto the screen as such. Security could never be as…well, secure. So yes, we're all in good hands." That grin had disappeared as soon as she began moving towards the door. "Next stop boys."

In awe, the boys reluctantly followed closely after Sakura.

And they thought they had seen it all.

**XxxxxxX**

Sakura plopped on the meeting room couch, her usual throne. She watched as each Akatsuki member filed into the room quite mentally defeated. The wonder that the world had advanced into—all in the span of a couple of years—was nothing short of amazing.

They had seen the Security room, the Warfare room, the Barracks, the Smith, the Laboratory, the Hospital and its branches, the Ration room—everything. And the only thing that had occurred to them was how much of a utopia the village seemed to be. Everything was provided for, and all the citizens had to do was to go about their business in their respective, _assigned,_duties.

"I'll admit, Amegakure has become amazing." Nagato admitted despite himself. Rinnegan had his eyes focused on Sakura who simply sneered in victory.

"It is, isn't it?" Green eyes wavered off to glance at the window outside. She too was tired, but the relishing of her achievements got her pumping. Ego could never be as appealing as it did now. It was no wonder those egotistic men who prided themselves as _the__best_ enjoyed it—at the thought of egotistical men, she frowned. Was there really no way to think without remembering that son of a bitch?

"But," Kakuzu had pushed the conversation to other, more important matters. "This base was made for more than a refugee camp, yes?"

On that note, Sakura had lit up, eyes giving him a look that said 'good boy'. She beckoned for them to sit, rising from her seat to stand above them. She was in bitch leader mode again. "Yes," She sighed, "Of course it's all for the grand goal. Truthfully, I could care less for these people. Just happened to be an added bonus, if I may say so."

Sakura clasped her gloved hands together, leaning back against the arm rest of the couch. "But enough of that. Hidan. Kakuzu," She barked their names to call their attention, "What did you find? I think it's been postponed long enough, the information I mean."

"Ah yes," Kakuzu had straightened, digging his hands into the inside of his dark coat—something he had opted to wear now that his Akatsuki uniform was gone. From there, he pulled out a bag of gold and a scroll. After he had offered the gold and Sakura had rejected, he had been pleased enough to keep it for himself. He then unrolled the scroll to reveal a map of the world to which Sakura ended up quirking a curious eyebrow.

"…please tell me what you found was actually something I _didn__'__t_ know." She glared at Kakuzu who had nodded to her.

"When we arrived in a remote community, there were rumors going around that the Uchihas were planning set forth the Moon Eye Plan once and for all. It'll be happening sometime in the next few weeks. Here." He pointed to the Mist village then ran his hand towards the Sound village before shifting to point right between the two.

"Where did you get this piece of information?"

Kakuzu gave Sakura a blank look before glancing at Hidan, who nodded to him, and then motioned for him to go on. "He didn't give us his name. Didn't show his face either."

"…What?" She felt her temper spike up, the leather around her gloves making sounds as she clenched her fists. "How do we know that this information is reliable then?"

"Well," He fumbled with his words, clearing his throat when he felt Sakura's anger get to him. Damn, when did a little girl make him bit his tongue? "He did tell us to tell you something."

"Which is?" Sakura was counting 1 to 100 in her mind to calm her down because 1 to 10 didn't seem to be enough.

Kakuzu glanced right and left before he sighed and let the words roll out, "Thank you."

Sakura quickly felt herself lean forward with shock. Her green eyes were wide open, her mouth closed shut—teeth grinding with one another.

There was only one person in the world—or what was left of it—who even was remotely capable of saying those words and making her innards churn with the ever familiar feeling of remorse, pain, and great hate.

"You've gotta be _fucking_ kidding me?"

**XxxxxX**

**-Any ideas on who had given them the information? –sly grin-**

**-Yes I know, I've been so slow in updating KNS, but TR demands attention and Sanctuary has been distracting me as much as School has been doing. Blargh. Will do my best to update everything. **

**-Oh yes, please check my tumblr out for updates, if any, and watch out for my new upcoming SasuSaku fic called Warped where Sakura is tossed into an alternate reality. =D**

**-Loves and Gratitude, please don't forget to R&R -M.O.**


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